I remember
years ago watching the highlights of Pukkelpop festival on tv and a weird band
came by. They were dressed in their best Olivia Newton John outfit, ready to
give aerobics to the people on the field. If my memory isn’t failing me that
band was Tame Impala. Now we’re about 5 years later and instead of playing the
smallest tent at the festival and walking around freely on the festival without
people throwing themselves at their feet they are bigger than ever. With their
latest album “Currents” they even got airplay on the commercial radio stations.
They came a long way and yesterday they played an almost sold out show in
Brussels. After apparently smashing it at Pukkelpop, without any spectacular
outfit choices, they came back to convince the people that couldn’t make it
last summer.
Opening
that night ware fellow Australians Jagwar Ma. You could describe them as the rebellious
little brother of Tame Impala who stole their record collection but still
wanted to be different so they threw in an extra dose of electronics. They trio
already scored high on some indie list with their debut album a couple of years
ago but playing for such a big crowd who is unfamiliar with your work can make
everyone look bad. Opener “Man I need” was supposed to be the start of a great dance
party but i wasn’t. They had 45 minutes to convince the crowd but Belgians are
difficult people to please. Last two songs “Come save me” and “The throw” got
the ‘ooh yeah I know that song’-nod from the people who took their time to look
up some songs before coming to Forest National. Anyway, I’m still waiting for their
next album and look forward to seeing them again in a more intimate setting.
Until then I’m just going to polish my dancing shoes.
My
expectations for the night weren’t that high since I’m not too familiar with
Kevin and co.’s discography. I’ve known them from their first album, back to
their aerobics time, but never got into
them besides the basic ‘knowing the singles’ kind of thing. The green gun sight
came on the screen, the lights went out and the crowd went mad. For like 5
seconds and then the lights came back on. A joke once in a while is appreciated
but you honestly can’t play with people’s feelings like that! The last roadie
in white lab coat ran off stage and then we knew it was really time for the
show to start. Take 2: lights out, crowd cheering and our favourite Australians
of the moment walked on stage.
After the
intro hit number one “Let it happen” proved to be a good song for the next
karaoke night. Followed by other sing-along hits “Mind mischief” and “Why won’t
they talk to me?” it was going to be a promising night with a lot of confetti. “The
moment” kind of disappeared into the big venue and before we realised what they
were playing the song was almost over. Maybe they sound tech people still need
to get used to playing in bigger venues as well? “Elephant” was supposed to be my
highlight of the evening but sounded chaotic. Watching the visuals and dancing
along to some unrecognizable sounds in the distance was not how I imagined it.
Their
latest album “Currents” is by far the most popular album they have and we can
see that in their setlist. Songs like “The less I know better” has been played
a lot on the radio and the ‘ahahahahaaaaaah’ from “Eventually” or the chorus
from “Cause I’m a man” were catchy enough to sing along. Eventhough we
sometimes just want the people next to you to scream a bit less, definitely in
such a big venue where the sound floats off before it hits you.
For the
rather short encore they opened with “Feels like we only go backwards” from
their previous album “Lonerism”, which can be classified as a golden oldie. The
last 10 minutes of doing weird dancing and trying to look cool ended with “new
person, same old mistakes”, some of you might know it as “Same ol’ mistakes”
from Rihanna’s newest album. Not the end I expected but oh well, I’m not going
to complain. I had a lovely evening with some nice looking people and now I don’t
have to spend an entire fortune to see them play at Rock Werchter festival this
summer. Only pro’s if you ask me!
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